The Houston-Galveston Area Council Transportation Policy Council on Friday listened to a presentation on transportation priorities in the Houston Port Region. Listen (31:59)

Chad Burke with the Economic Alliance Houston Port Region presented results of a collaborative effort to identify and prioritize needed improvements to the infrastructure serving freight activity in the area surrounding the Houston Ship Channel.

Burke touted the port region as the largest petrochemical complex in the nation and the second largest in the world, behind Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

“We are positioned globally better than anyone in the world,” he said.

Burke further explained that foreign investors’ criteria include country, proximity to feedstock, cost of production, and proximity to markets.

“We beat the world in two of those right off the bat, and that is proximity to markets and cost of feedstock,” he said. “That’s not going to change; we’re going to continue to see that.”

Seabrook Mayor and EAHPR board co-chair Glenn Royal said the municipal level of government is coordinating with industry and the Texas Department of Transportation.

“These projects that we have have been a coordinated effort of the locals with industry, and I really want to stress that point,” said Royal. “It’s very rare where you see that kind of coordination.”

Port of Houston Executive Director Roger Guenther said that the port has been a big part of the development and a supporter of the projects listed in the Houston Port Region Freight Improvement Strategic Plan.

“This initiative supports what we have had as part of our strategic plan, and that’s to be America’s distribution hub for the next generation,” said Guenther. “The port continues to invest in our facilities to create the capacity and makes sure we have efficient facilities to capture this growth and demand that we’re seeing in our port.”

Guenther stated that investment in the landside transportation network in the region needs to continue.

The policy council voted unanimously to approve amendments to five projects that provide funding to continue and expand the regional incident management program.

The policy council voted unanimously to honor departing members Royal and Pasadena City Council Member Darrell Morrison.